Holiday tip: How to save money on gift cards this season

Gift cards are the most-wanted holiday gift again this year – ahead of jewelry, clothing and even electronic gadgets. According to the National Retail Federation’s 2011 holiday survey, eight out of ten holiday shoppers plan to buy gift cards. They will spend an average of $155 on them.

Let me share a little secret. You don’t have to pay full price for gift cards. You can get them from resellers and save anywhere from 8 percent to 35 percent. These cards are for well-known retailers, from Abercrombie & Fitch to Zappos.com.

To do that, you need to have the card sent to you and then you give it to the person on your list. Most gift card resellers do not charge for shipping.

What if the card is scratched and doesn’t look new?

“Go to the store where the card is sold and ask them to give you a new card with the same value,” Papadimitriou advises. “That way you get brand new plastic to give to your friend or family member who will have absolutely no clue.”

What if the card is loaded with an odd amount?

That’s often the case at these resale sites. I just went online and found a Coldwater Creek card for $139.41 on sale for $118.50. That’s 15 percent off. But you’d never give someone a gift card loaded with a crazy amount like that. It’s a dead give-away that you bought the card from a reseller.

Again, there’s a way around that. You can go to the store and ask them to split the card. For example, you could get two $50 cards and have the rest ($18.50) put on a third card you can use. Or you could pay an extra $1.50 and make the last card worth $20.

Buy discounted gift cards for your holiday shopping

Many savvy shoppers now buy discounted gift cards to use, rather than to give away. It’s like cashing-in on an instant sale.

“I buy the gift cards for myself,” says Kristin Morse, vice president of marketing at Plastic Jungle.com, one of the big gift card resellers. “So I save money before I even go into the store.”

Morse says she likes to stack her savings, using the discounted gift card to buy things that are on sale. If there’s a coupon, that’s even better.

"It adds up to where you can really stretch your dollars,” she says.

Morse tells me about 80 percent of their customers buy gift cards to use for themselves. She says that extra little bit of savings lets them get what they really want.